The email went out at 12:24 p.m. on Friday, June 25, from the NCAA's director of championships to a group called the "championship medical team." It was the seventh day of the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, where four teams remained competing for a national championship.
"We have an urgent matter at the Division I Baseball Championship," the email began.
The News & Observer recently obtained the message from N.C. State through a public records request. The university released it and hundreds of pages of documents, most of them emails, that provide a fuller accounting of how its baseball team's season came to a sudden, stunning end in Omaha at the CWS.
The documents underscore what school officials considered a lack of communication from the NCAA, and confusion, after the emergence of N.C. State's first COVID-19 case. They show that while the NCAA had a detailed plan for the testing of baseball bats, there was no equivalent plan about what to do in the event of multiple positive virus cases. And the documents provide an hour-by-hour look at how the Wolfpack's season unraveled.
Before arriving at the CWS, the Wolfpack had advanced through an NCAA tournament regional in Louisiana, and then gone on the road again to defeat Arkansas, the No. 1 national seed, in a Super Regional. N.C. State's late-season magic continued in Omaha, where it won its first two games.
That Friday, June 25, the Wolfpack needed one more victory to advance to the CWS best-of-three championship. No N.C. State team had won an NCAA national championship since its improbable triumph in men's basketball in 1983, and after nearly 40 years of what-ifs and wait-til-next-years, even the most hardened of Wolfpack fans allowed themselves to believe.
For days, though, a yet-to-be publicized drama had been unfolding behind the scenes and was about to erupt. An unidentified N.C. State player had tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, June 22, and more than two days later, school officials and those from the NCAA and the county health department were still determining the ramifications.
The questions then focused on a second player, who'd shared a room with the one who'd tested positive. Officials from N.C. State, the NCAA and the Douglas County Health Department in Omaha traded emails about protocols and procedures, with the university arguing that the second player should be allowed to return after five days of quarantining and daily negative COVID tests.
The debate soon became moot.
A little more than 90 minutes before the scheduled start of N.C. State's game against Vanderbilt on June 25, Anthony Holman, the NCAA official charged with running the CWS, scheduled a video conference with the six-person championship medical team, a group composed of doctors around the country, from NYU to Oregon State.
About 13 hours later, N.C. State's season was over. The Wolfpack's disqualification from the CWS, because of several positive COVID-19 cases, became national news and Exhibit A in the argument for why college athletes and coaches should be vaccinated.
More than a month later, questions still persist about the Wolfpack's exit from the CWS. The documents N.C. State released help provide a more complete portrait.
Among the revelations:
The lack of clarity in the back-and-forth about how to handle the roommate of the first player who'd tested positive.
The official timeline of how the virus ended N.C. State's season, from one player feeling ill on Sunday, June 20, to that player's positive test two days later, to the seven other positives that emerged later in the week, over that Friday and early Saturday morning.
The absence of formal NCAA guidelines for athletes and team personnel who might test positive.
The rate of vaccination among N.C. State's 40-person travel party to Omaha.
The internal debate, among university officials, over how to respond to public outcry those irate with the NCAA, or the university for its stance on COVID-19 vaccinations, or both.
The unfiltered reaction from N.C. State baseball coach Elliott Avent, who in an email to university chancellor Randy Woodson accused the NCAA of "dishonesty, lack of organization and communication" and of "making up rules and guidelines on the fly."
Most of all, the documents provide a real-time, as-it-happened accounting of how N.C. State's baseball team went from the precipice of playing for a national championship to a sudden ending, punctuated not by defeat but instead by positive virus tests and a middle-of-the-night press release.
'THE BUG'
The NCAA required the eight teams that reached the CWS to arrive in Omaha by June 16. The four teams whose first games were Saturday, June 19 the Wolfpack included needed to arrive by 4 p.m. so they could go through COVID-19 testing that night.
According to NCAA protocol, CWS teams were limited to a traveling party of 40 members, including players and coaches. Those who'd been vaccinated would not be subject to COVID testing. The unvaccinated, meanwhile, would have to undergo testing every other day. According to one document the university released, 24 of the 40 members of N.C. State's traveling party had been vaccinated, which left 16 to be tested regularly.
N.C. State made it through its first round of testing, June 16, without a positive. The same was true June 18, and again on June 20, according to a timeline a baseball team trainer compiled. By then the Wolfpack had won its first game in Omaha, a 10-4 victory against Stanford that moved N.C. State into the winner's bracket. A 1-0 victory against Vanderbilt followed, on June 21.
After that game came the first public sign of trouble. In the postgame press conference, conducted virtually as a pandemic precaution, Avent received a question about the benefit of his team's 2-0 start. It meant that the Wolfpack would have three days off before playing again.
"I just think we need rest," Avent, in his 25th season at N.C. State, told reporters. "... Coach (Chris) Hart's been sick for probably five or six days. J.T. Jarrett caught the bug a couple days ago. This bug seems to be going around. Cameron Cotter. I've got it a little bit. This bug seems to be floating around.
"And I think right now it's important for our players to get some rest."
N.C. State had undergone three rounds of COVID testing by then without a positive. There was no reason for Avent to think that "the bug," as he put it, was something more nefarious. That changed the next day, after the 16 unvaccinated members of the Wolfpack's traveling party reported for testing the morning of Tuesday, June 22.
FIRST SIGN OF TROUBLE
According to the timeline that team trainer Scott Ensell compiled, which the university released to The N&O, the team's health problems in Omaha officially began on Sunday, June 20. An unidentified player, who'd not been vaccinated, reported "illness and symptoms."
He was "considered negative COVID-19" due to three negative tests, Ensell wrote, and treated with over-the-counter medication. The next day the player said he felt better, according to the timeline, and he wore a mask "at all time(s) while on team bus and indoors." He participated in his team's victory against Vanderbilt. The following day, the same player tested positive for the virus. Two other tests confirmed that result.
That first positive test set into motion everything that followed. The dominoes fell slowly, at first, and then fell all at once later in the week. First, the immediate fallout: contact tracing. According to Ensell's timeline, he didn't identify any unvaccinated contacts, and any vaccinated contact would not have been tested then. The positive player's hotel roommate was not identified as a close contact, either, because they'd been separated when the first player began feeling sick (the same day he tested negative).
But for days, the status of the positive player's former roommate, and how long his quarantine should last, became a focal point. Holman and officials from the Douglas County Health Department traded emails Wednesday, June 23, and Thursday, June 24, about the player in question. During one exchange, a county epidemiologist asked Holman, "What's the NCAA policy" related to close contact and isolation? Holman responded, in part:
"NCAA policy regarding close contacts defers to local guidelines."
Rob Murphy, the N.C. State Director of Sports Medicine, sent two sentences in response:
"Before any decision (is) finalized in this situation we need to make sure we have correct information. I would appreciate some level of direct communication."
That was Thursday morning. That night, Murphy sent to Holman a formal request to clear the player in question the former roommate of the lone known positive in time for the rematch on Friday against Vanderbilt in the semifinal series. By then, that player had tested negative six times. He'd been quarantined since the previous Sunday when his roommate began feeling sick.
"Exposure to a COVID positive case was mitigated quickly," Murphy wrote in his request. "The team has implemented a 'Swiss Cheese Model' to prevent infection as evidenced by the fact that only one player tested positive ... We respectfully request that you take into consideration the extensive testing protocol and aforementioned details of his environment to be a substantial mitigation strategy that would allow (redacted) release from quarantine on 6/25."
Murphy emailed the request to Holman shortly after 8 that Thursday night. He forwarded it to a colleague, who responded, "pretty impressive stuff ... a long shot, but it is the best we have." Murphy forwarded it, too, to Jim Phillips, the ACC commissioner, with a plea:
"Anything you could do would be greatly appreciated."
NC STATE'S FINAL GAME
Murphy proposed that with a negative PCR test Friday, the player in question should be cleared in time to participate in N.C. State's game against Vanderbilt that afternoon. Among tests for the virus, PCR tests are considered more accurate. Before N.C. State could make the argument it prepared, though, the PCR test came back positive.
Two other players then reported symptoms, according to Ensell's timeline. They also tested positive, which brought the Wolfpack's positive case count to four. That prompted Holman's email to the championship medical team, the one in which he described "an urgent matter" in Omaha. The championship medical team acted quickly, and Holman recounted its decisions in a later email that Friday afternoon.
Among those decisions:
That only vaccinated coaches or players could participate in the game that Friday.
That all non-vaccinated individuals be removed from the dugout or bullpen.
That every member of N.C. State's 40-person traveling party undergo PCR testing on Friday and Saturday, and quarantine regardless of results.
Holman's email included a flurry of instructions, including ones about where testing would take place (the second floor of the Omaha Marriott Downtown) and who would do the testing (the University of Nebraska Medical Center) and when it would be (either 6 p.m. "or as soon as possible after today's game").
"Individuals that are not vaccinated should wear a N95 mask at all times when not competing," Holman wrote, before concluding his message with a foreboding reminder:
"The Championship Medical Team will reconvene after the team has been tested and contact tracing interviews ... (have) been completed to determine next steps. The fact that NC State was permitted to participate on 6/25 vs. Vanderbilt does not remove the possibility that the team may still be removed from the remainder of the championship."
N.C. State was left with 13 players. Its performance that Friday, in a 3-1 defeat, became the stuff of social media hashtags celebrating its grit and underdog spirit. Yet the Wolfpack also became a flashpoint of controversy and criticism among those who questioned how the team could leave itself vulnerable to the virus despite the prevalence of vaccines.
Afterward, Avent described in reverent tones what would be his team's final game.
"Just a great gutty performance by a gutty team," he told reporters. He was less eager to discuss the circumstances of his team's short-handedness, or the virus, or vaccines.
"My job is to teach them baseball, make sure they get an education and keep them on the right track forward," Avent said, dodging a question about whether he had required his players to get vaccinated. "But I don't try to indoctrinate my kids with my values or my opinions. ... These are young men that can make their own decisions and that's what they did."
Moments later came a more pointed question: Had Avent himself been vaccinated?
If he hadn't been, the documents obtained by The N&O revealed, he wouldn't have been allowed to remain in the dugout that Friday. Avent didn't answer the question.
"I'm not going to talk about that," he said. "If you want to talk baseball, we can talk baseball. If you want to talk politics or stuff like that, you can go talk to my head of sports medicine, Rob Murphy."
Testing commenced after that game, as Holman's email Friday afternoon had outlined. Later that night, he sent out another:
"All, I regret to inform you that there were four additional positive tests from the NC State baseball team. Ironically all four individuals were reported to be vaccinated. Pursuant to the recommendation made by the championship medical team, the Division I Baseball committee removed NC State from the NCAA Baseball Championship."
The NCAA sent out the official press release at 2:10 a.m., Eastern Time, on Saturday. Randy Woodson, the N.C. State chancellor, awoke to the news and sent an email to Boo Corrigan, the university athletic director, at 6:56 that morning: "This is very sad for all involved," Woodson wrote. "I hate it for our team, the coaches and the fans."
Soon, email inboxes belonging to both men, and Avent, began filling with messages that conveyed a range of emotions: heartbreak and sadness, but also anger and frustration. Few were spared, least of all the NCAA, but the public directed their rage toward N.C. State's leadership, too.
THE RESPONSE
By 8:30 that Saturday morning, about six hours after the NCAA had ended the Wolfpack's season, Woodson had read enough messages to know the university needed to formulate a response, and quickly. The one that prompted him to contact Brad Bohlander, N.C. State's chief communication officer, arrived with a direct subject line: "Lack of College World Series Leadership," it said.
"The lack of leadership by both the NCAA and NC State athletics department is appalling and an embarrassment to our student athletes and alumni," the email began, sent by someone who wrote he'd graduated from N.C. State in 2008.
Woodson responded directly and forwarded the original to Bohlander with a message of his own:
"I am getting a number of emails about the NCAA decision regarding our continuation in the CWS," he wrote. "They tend to fall into two categories. One is to blame the NCAA and the other is to blame the university leadership for not requiring our student athletes to get vaccinated. I want to be responsive to the messages without placing blame. Vaccination is an individual decision and we are not allowed to mandate it."
Bohlander drafted a couple of official statements and Woodson looked them over, choosing, as he put it in another message, to "stick to the heartbreak we feel for our student athletes, their families and all of our fans."
"I don't think we should get into the kind of testing results and vaccination data as it just leads to more questions," Woodson wrote.
The questions, though, were inescapable. Avent had them. His players had them. N.C. State supporters, many of whom had been swept up in the baseball team's unexpected run to Omaha, had them. Even members of the NCAA's championship medical team, the group the NCAA cited for the decision to remove N.C. State, had questions.
One of them was about Vanderbilt. N.C. State and Vanderbilt had played twice that week, and on the afternoon of Saturday, June 26, Vanderbilt personnel were "hearing rumors" that it might be subject to contract tracing, according to an email that Dr. Catherine O'Neal, of LSU Health in Louisiana, sent to Holman.
"Is there any truth to that," O'Neal wrote, "or is the committee able to decide what contact tracing is needed for game time?"
"That is not true," Holman responded. "Assure Vandy that we will communicate directly with them if there are any additional testing requests. Glad they are coming to you nonetheless with questions."
Earlier in the day, Holman had informed the medical committee that N.C. State's original positive virus case "was traced to the Delta variant." Another member of the medical committee, Dr. Eugene Hong of the Medical University of South Carolina, wanted to know about the type of vaccine N.C. State players received, and how many had been vaccinated.
Holman responded that he didn't know which vaccine players might have received, but that 24 of the 40 members of N.C. State's traveling party had been vaccinated. Among the team's eight positive cases, Holman wrote, were four individuals who'd been vaccinated. Brian Hainline, the NCAA's Chief Medical Officer, soon requested a "debrief call" about all that had happened.
"This has implications for all of us going forward," he wrote.
Hainline invited someone from N.C. State to join the debriefing call, and Dr. Julie Casani, the university's director of student health and a member of the ACC's COVID-19 advisory group, volunteered.
"Good luck on the call," Corrigan, the N.C. State athletic director, wrote in an email to Casani. "Stay factual and unemotional. My guess is everyone will be highly emotional which causes us to remain calm. Let us know how it goes."
Corrigan, like Woodson and Avent, had been inundated with public feedback. Some of it was congratulatory, praising the Wolfpack for making it to Omaha. Much of it was inflammatory. Avent, in particular, became an easy target for saying he hadn't wanted to "indoctrinate" his players, or that he didn't want to "talk politics" and say whether he'd been vaccinated.
"You sound like a (expletive) idiot," went one email to Avent, about 12 hours after his team's disqualification. "You are sack of hammers (expletive) stupid. Why couldn't you be a man and take care of your team? Vaccines are not political you tiny brained ..." and then the message devolved further.
Others took a less profane but no less critical approach.
"Over 600,000 people are dead," began one such email, that Woodson received. "Mothers, Fathers, Grandparents, siblings, friends are gone and your baseball coach is saying that the vaccine is political? How is that possible at a place of higher learning?
"An absolute disgrace and a very bad look for NC State."
Sunday morning, more than a full day removed from the end of the season, Woodson sent a message of his own, a short email to Avent. It was 10:58 that morning. The team had returned the night before to hundreds of fans waiting to greet its arrival.
"Elliott, Just wanted to check in with you to see how you are holding up," Woodson wrote. "I know this has been unbelievably difficult and thanks for all you are doing to support the team."
Avent responded about six hours later, and wrote "this has certainly been an excruciating past six days."
The message continued:
"Our players are hurting and confused and will never understand or accept the outcome. It is unimaginable the amount of confusion we experienced for how this ending came about. I have kept the dishonesty, lack of organization and communication, and administration of the rulings delivered by NCAA officials from them. Sharing it would only further their anger and resentment.
"... We do not have clear answers from the NCAA officials. The NCAA staff in Omaha were not honest in their process or communications. Beyond this, their unprofessional behavior and treatment of the student athletes through the ordeal was disappointing. Rob Murphy and Scott Ensell witnessed the lack of preparation and communication from the NCAA and the Douglas County health department.
"When they realized their mistakes and lack of preparation they proceeded to cover their tracks and incompetence by making up rules and guidelines on the fly. There are two men in particular that I was told that lied to our administration and did things that were unprofessional and unethical. I trust they will be made to answer for their actions. Although we have seen worse go unpunished. I spent the past 48 hours consoling and embracing my players and their families."
Reached on Tuesday, Holman in an email wrote that College World Series teams were advised of COVID-19 protocols before their arrival in Omaha, and that they attended a webinar. He attached a memo that teams received that outlined testing procedures, but that did not explain how positive cases might be handled, or the circumstances that might lead to a team's disqualification.
Holman acknowledged that Avent "was not pleased" with the medical team's request that several players be tested on a day when they hadn't been scheduled to be, but that the medical team made that decision after Avent referenced "the bug" in his postgame press conference after his team's second game.
"As for Coach Avent's email asserting dishonesty or unprofessional behavior, I can't speak to that unless there are examples you would like me to respond to," Holman wrote.
Avent's email to Woodson in late June, meanwhile, continued after his criticism of the NCAA. It was a long email, and Avent wrote, "I didn't mean to get in such a long response" but that "I guess I needed to pour my soul and thoughts out a little too." He closed with a line from Casablanca, adapted for his team's season: "As Rick said to Ilsa, 'We'll always have Paris.'
"What I'll leave you with is, 'We'll always have Arkansas.' "
The N&O asked a university spokesman on Tuesday whether the NCAA had addressed the concerns Avent described in his email to Woodson. The spokesman, Fred Demarest, provided a brief statement on behalf of the university: "We continue to engage in dialogue with the NCAA on how this matter was handled."
*Wolfpack Baseball - 2021 *NCAA COLLEGE WORLD SERIES CHAMPS!
*Congrats to the 10 win 2021 Wolfpack football team!
